Over 700 mobile phone towers will be set up across Jharkhand after the Union Cabinet, on June 4, gave its approval for 2,199 locations across nine States affected by left-wing extremism (lWE).
“Jharkhand has been allotted 782 mobile towers by the Cabinet. They will be installed in consultation with Superintendents of Police and Deputy Commissioners of the districts,” said DGP Rajeev Kumar.
Villagers, security forces and development schemes workers have protested alike against the poor mobile connectivity in lWE-hit zones.
The police had demanded at least 700 mobile towers for 207 villages on a priority basis, according to sources.
Nine States — including Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Bengal and Maharashtra — will get 2,200 mobile towers by this year-end. The Home Ministry and department of telecommunication have roped in BSNl for the project.
Cost of construction of each tower will be around Rs 10 lakh to Rs 12 lakh and funds will be provided from the Universal Service Obligations Fund, a corpus being created by the Government through raising the Universal Access levy.